Learning Curve
by SuzeeQ
Summary: Buffy and her rich and powerful husband Angel can't seem to agree on how to educate their young daughter. But they can agree on whoWilliam Giles. A Spuffy story that will develop into more than it sounds like.
1. Chapter 1

Pairing: Buffy/William (A/U)

Rating: for now up to R

b Chapter One:Introductions /b 

"Let me get this straight, you want to send my 6-year-old daughter to a boarding school?"

"Buffy, honey, calm down. It's just across town, so you can visit anytime. And it's really the only choice we have-"

"The only choice? Are you suddenly forgetting the elementary school not five minutes from here?"

"That's a public school, sweetheart, St. Luke's is the only private school in the area and there's no way anyone with the last name O'Connor is ever going to go to a public school."

'Then it's a good thing here name is legally Summers-O'Connor,' Buffy thought, but she didn't dare say that to her husband. Instead all she said was, "Well then, figure something out because she's not going to boarding school, even if it means I have to finish getting my teaching degree and teach her myself." 'Take that Liam O'Connor.'

"No, no, you can't do that. I'll figure something out."

10 Days Later

"Buffy, are you sure this is a good idea." What had he been thinking giving her this much responsibility?

"You came up with it." Was there seriously something wrong with him? First he tells her to do something, she does it, then he thinks it's a bad idea. Huh? Did she miss something?'

"I know. It's just, what do we even know about him? He could be some nut job for all we know."

"Don't worry. I got his name from an excellent teacher at St. Luke's" 'Hopefully Giles filled whoever this guy is, in on that little bit, can't get caught in you lie now can we, Buffy.' "As for the rest, he'll just have-" they were cut off by the doorbell, "-to tell you."

&&&&&&&&&

William stood in front of the huge, ornate door--finger poised just over the door bell--not sure if this was a good idea. Sure he needed a job and he'd been thrilled when his father told him he'd found something for him. But now, standing in front of this huge house, with everything perfectly manicured and cared for, he wasn't so sure. Was taking care of some rich couple's spoiled brat really how he needed to spend his time? Sure the money would be good, but- "Oh sod it. No other way to find out," he muttered and finally rang the doorbell.

Any doubts he had were almost-- almost --dispelled as he was the beauty that opened the door to him. 'Please don't let her be married.' His father hadn't told him anything about who he would be working for and all he could hope was that either she was a single mother or wasn't the mother at all. 'Please don't let-' his mantra was cut short as a tall hulkish man appeared next to her and extended his hand.

"Liam O'Conor." And that's all he said. 'A little rude,' William thought.

"And I'm his wife, Buffy Summers," at the slight throat clearing from her husband, she quickly added, "O'Connor. You must be the tutor, I'm sorry, but St. Luke's didn't tell me your name."

"William Giles, please to meet you Ms. Summers-O'Connor. And you too of course, Mr. O'Connor."

"Well, Mr. Giles, you come very highly recommended." 'I'd better he though, it was my own father recommending me.' "Please do come in," Buffy finished.

'Interesting,' William thought, 'she feels like she has to identify herself as his wife, but still introduces herself with her maiden name. Gonna have to figure what that's all about. And she's obviously lying to her husband because ol' Rupes has nothing to do with that ?Stuck-up? St. Luke's.'

Buffy opened the door wider and William walked through, slowly looking around the foyer, and waited to be shown where to go.

"Why don't we go sit in the living room, it will b more comfortable than Angel's office." Buffy started to lead William with Angel trailing behind, "I'm not sure how much they told you about what this job entails. Basically we need someone who can teach Sam everything she would learn if she were in a regular school," here Angel interrupted his wife.

"Buffy, why don't you go check on Samantha and maybe get us some drinks. I'm sure I could fill Mr. Giles in on what would be expected of him should he get the job." Buffy looked a little off put, but also looked like she'd learned long ago not to argue with her husband. So, after finding out what the two men wanted to drink--a scotch for Angel and water for William--she excused herself and said she'd bring the drinks in before she checked on Samantha. The two sat in an uncomfortable silence when she'd gone with William getting the feeling that Liam--or Angel as he was apparently called--was trying to intimidate him.

Once Buffy had brought the drinks and left, with a nod from Angel and a "thank you" from William, Angel got down to business. "Now let's get one thing straight. Buffy may think she knows what she's talking about just because she took some 'I-wanna-be-a-teacher classes'-"

"Education classes," William interrupted, not much liking how this man was talking about his wife.

"Yeah, education classes, whatever. But she doesn't have the same views on education as I do. And I'm assuming since she got you name through St. Luke's that you share those views." When William said nothing Angel continued, "Buffy's a great girl, but she's and I don't come from the same kind of families, I mean her mother's a painter for a living and her father-let's not even go there. Basically what I'm saying is, she doesn't know what's necessary to raise a proper young lady." William would have laughed at that if Angel wasn't so serious. "So before we even get started, you need to know that if you're Samantha's instructor--and it is Samantha, not Sam--then you report to me, even if Buffy thinks otherwise."

"Now about you-not that the fact that St. Luke's recommended you isn't enough for me-but you know how it is. Do you have a résumé or anything?" William handed him the piece of paper hoping he wouldn't somehow figure out he had no affiliation with St. Luke's, if only for Buffy's sake. "Ah, Oxford, joint degree in English Literature and education. Graduate degree in English and four years teaching at Thames Lower School in Yorkfordshire Very impressive. Why did you decide to leave England?"

He didn't notice the tightening of William's jaw, "Personal reasons."

Angel looked up from the paper then, "Very well, it's really of no consequence anyway. I'll need to check your references of course, but for now why don't you take this," Angel handed William a packet of several papers, "and look over it, it's the job description--requirements and expectations--you know all the obvious stuff, you can take that and go over it and after I check your references, I'll get back to you. If you have any questions just call. Anything else you can think of?" Before William could even say anything, Angel continued, "Pay is $50,000 a year, insurance and everything like that is there," he gestured to the papers.

Buffy came back into the room then and couldn't help but notice the difference between Angel and William's demeanors. William looked like he was within an inch of doing...something to Angel while Angel looked very pleased.

"How are things going?" She asked.

"Actually, I think we're finished. I'm just going to check Mr. Giles' references and the get back to him, but it seems to me like we have everything pretty much set. Isn't that right William?"

"Sure, Angel. Listen, I don't want to be rude, but I really do need to get going." He didn't actually have anywhere to be, in fact he'd cleared his schedule for this interview, but he didn't think he'd be able to stand another minute with Mr. Liam "Angel" O'Connor. William was just glad Buffy hadn't been in the room, 'because the I might have actually considered taking this job,' he thought.

Buffy walked William to the door and told him she hoped to see him again soon before returning to her husband. "So really, how'd it go?"

"Honestly, Buff, it was great. I'll admit, I wasn't so sure you could handle this, but you went above and beyond. With him teaching our daughter, she'll get the same kind of education she'd get at and English boarding school. He'll be perfect."

Too bad William didn't feel the same way.

TBC

A/N: In case you couldn't tell I made up the school name and location ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Learning Curve by Suzee

A quick note before the chapter, I put up the right version of Chap 1 after I realized I'd posted the unedited one, thanks to those that pointed it out.

b Chapter 2: He Won't Do It /b 

"William, how was the interview? It was yesterday afternoon, was it not?"

"Buffy was the one that told you about the job, right?" William asked

instead of directly answering his uncle's question.

"Yes, isn't she a dear. I tutored her some in history while she attended

here, very bright girl." Giles couldn't understand why William wouldn't

just tell him how the interview had gone, "But son, do tell me how the

interview went."

"Well, Buffy was sweet, I guess-"

"What do you mean you guess? She's lovely." Now he was really confused,

he'd just seen Buffy a few days ago and she'd seemed like the same sweet

girl she'd been years ago; what was William on about?

"She was only in the room for about two minutes but she was sweet

for those two minutes. But I'm not so sure about her being bright--she

married a moron."

"Oh certainly not, maybe you just misinterpreted some tings."

"Come on Rupes!" William was starting to get exasperated with his

father's constant defense of Buffy. It was like she could do no wrong,

like she was his golden child, but "She's not your daughter, even if you

are acting like it." Not giving Giles a chance to dispute what

he'd just said William soldiered on, his voice getting slightly louder.

"The Buffy Summers you knew might have been a perfectly wonderful girl,

but there's no way that she can still be that girl after marrying an oaf

like she did. Buffy Summers-O'Connor is obviously a very different

person than Buffy Summers. It was obvious, dad, that she lets him do

whatever he wants, I mean he basically dismissed her and she just went

along with it. Now maybe it's just happened that over the last six or so

years he's broken her down to that or maybe she was just weak to begin

with, I can't really tell since I didn't know her before. But the way

Liam treated me and the way he spoke about his wife and his daughter,

add to that the way Buffy follows his every word and I don't think I can

work in that house. Not only would I go insane, but it would go against

everything I believe in, to teach that little girl by that man's

standards. There's no way I could do that."

"Come on, son, it's not like you'd be leading some cult or another,"

Rupert really wanted his son to have the chance to see that he was wrong

about Buffy, "Just teaching a six-year-old the way her father wants her

to be taught. You can do that."

"But he shouldn't have to." Both men were surprised when they heard the

feminine voice from the other side of the room, neither having heard

Buffy come in to the library. "I could tell yesterday that you hadn't

really been impressed by what Angel said, but I didn't know you were

that opposed to taking the job. He's really that bad?"

"No, he's not that bad." William knew he was lying (and so did everyone

else in the room), but he just, for some reason, couldn't let Buffy

Summers think her husband was that bad of a person. Even if he was.

"Really, he's not," he added when she looked incredulously at him, "I

just don't have the same views on things as he does so I don't think I'd

be able to teach Samantha the way he wants her to be taught. Or the

things he wants her to be taught. And I'd rather not have getting fired

on my résumé so I'll not take the job and that'll solve that."

Buffy could tell he was trying to be respectful, to her or her husband

she couldn't tell, though. "Don't play dumb Mr. Giles; I heard what you

said to your father before I came in here. You think I'm some kind of

idiot for marrying him and that Sam and I deserve whatever we get

because of it, right?" William at least had the tact to look ashamed.

"And I know that Angel told you that I took education classes in college

and I also know that you know I didn't get your name from St. Luke's

like I told my husband. Am I getting things right so far?" William only

nodded, not sure where she was going with this. "And I heard Giles tell

you that he thought I was smart. So add together that I'm not an idiot,

IQ wise at least, with the fact that I have nearly a degrees worth of

education classes and it would make sense that I could teach my own

daughter. But see I did marry Angel, which was my choice not Sam's

by the way and since he's not letting me teach her, I need to do all

that I can to see that she gets an education that won't turn her into

her father.

This has probably left you wondering why I married Angel, but that's not

something I'm going to go into at the moment. And I know that I'm not

necessarily being the most eloquent person ever, but, well I didn't have

this planned very well. I guess what I want you to know is that I don't

want Angel choosing who educates my daughter, I want to be the one

making that decision. And I have, I chose you--and he did too, granted

it was with a bit of wrong information, but he wants you to teach her,

too William. So what's the problem?"

Sure, she'd had a good argument, but she'd still missed his main point,

"The problem is," William snippily began, "that your husband also made

it quite clear that he was the one in charge of his daughter's

education, not you, no matter how much you wanted to be." He knew he was

sounding like an asshole, but the woman just wasn't getting it, "And

sweetheart, it doesn't matter how much you want me to teach her

certain stuff, if he's the one making sure that I teach her

things. He's going to know what I teach her and how. And that, my dear

will get me fired."

"There's one thing you can trust me on," Buffy knew she was going to

sound like a complete bitch, but she didn't care, she needed to convince

him to teach her daughter, "when it comes to Sam, or me for that

matter," she laughed humorlessly, "follow through is something that

Angel is not familiar with. If he kept up with things regarding my

daughter and I half as much as he does with those cases of his, he would

know that you're not from St. Luke's for one. But he doesn't so when he

says he'll be in charge of what you teach Sam, it's basically going to

be a conversation of, 'is Buffy telling you what to teach her?' 'No'

'Okay is Buffy doing any of the teaching?' 'No' 'Sounds good, you're

teaching her all the right stuff and she's doing well?' 'Yes' 'Good job,

William, maybe I should pay you more.'

He's not going to ask you for any proof he's never going to sit in on

you or anything. He's never even going to be there, hell he probably

won't even ask you anything after a week or two. Please, William, if you

don't do this, he's going to send her to that damned boarding school."

Exit bitchy Buffy, that apparently never really showed up and

enter weepy Buffy. "I can't lose my daughter like that, sure he says I

can visit her whenever I want, but that's not going to happen, he's

going to drag me to all these work parties and then when I do actually

have time, they won't let me see her-I looked into it, I'll only be able

to see her between 8 and 9 at night, what kind of crazy schedule is

that. My baby needs to go to bed at 8 o'clock for Christ sake. And I've

seen Angel's family. They were all sent to those kinds of boarding

schools, I've seen how they came out. I can't have my little girl being

taught that her main purpose in life is to get married and give some man

heirs to his family fortune."

William hated to see a woman cry, but he still didn't really think he

could do it, there was still too much that wasn't for sure. And who knew

how much of what she'd said she actually meant. All of those rich trophy

wives were drama queens weren't they? "I'm sorry Buffy, I just can't do

it, I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"You know I'm this close to telling you to go fuck yourself. But since I

know who your father is and what he said about you, I'm going to try

just one more thing." Buffy really was about to tell him where to stick

it, but something told her that she needed him to be the one that

taught her daughter. "I'm going to be back in twenty minutes. Don't you

dare go anywhere. Giles," what she had just said to his son seemed to

flood her mind as she turned and looked at the older man, looking

contrite she amended what she was going to say, "I'm sorry about the

language and the yelling and everything." Once he'd assured her, with a

look, that it was okay, she continued, "Would you make sure he doesn't

leave, please."

"Sure, Buffy." Giles ignored the look his son was giving him and smiled

at Buffy, "I'll make sure he stays right here, but make sure it is

twenty minutes or it might become a tad difficult."

"Thanks Giles and I promise twenty minutes." Buffy turned and left the

library, ignoring what William called after her.

"What are you doing?" William was starting to think he'd missed

something. He had no idea what was going on, but it seemed like Buffy

was very sure of what she was doing and that it was somehow going to get

him to take the job.

'What could it be?' he though, 'more money, something to bribe me with,

maybe her husband to prove to me again what an ass he is?'

TBC :-) Please Review. Thanks to SoulNyte, Caitie, Charlene, Elanor, and Mari for reviewing.

A/N: I thought I should also let you know that I'm going to be updating the chapter on my Livejournal (Suzee05) a day early and they might be firiends only. So if you want to read the chapters a day early, head on over to my LJ and friend me.


	3. Interlude

b Interlude: Time /b 

"That stupid, arrogant, self righteous bastard. Thinks he knows who I am

after meeting my husband for like a half hour. I'm so nothing like

Angel. Yeah I married a prick, doesn't make me one." Buffy stopped for a

second, thinking, "well technically it wouldn't no matter what because-

Okay Buffy stay on topic: Annoying, arrogant William Giles. Right, he

thinks that I can't tell him what my husband's going to do. Angel might

be an asshole, but he's a predictable asshole. And yeah, so what if I

didn't stand up to him today, that's the only way I can get what I want

out of this. If I push him on stuff, he'll send Sam to that damn school

just to spite me. The only reason he's agreeing to this tutor thing is

because I used his own logic on him or something and somehow convinced

him it was his idea." Buffy stopped her angry muttering as she reached

the door of her house.

"Sam, sweetie." She called as she opened the door, "Where are you?

Meredith?" she called the babysitter's name as well. She was, after all,

on a time limit.

Sam can running down the stairs, dragging her 16-year-old babysitter

behind her, "Mommy, you're home. Look what Meri and I did." Sam held out

the picture to her mother. Buffy looked at the marker drawing and

couldn't tell what it was. But it was beautiful.

"Meri thinks it's a house and a dog, but I told her it's just a picture,

she won't listen." Buffy knew she should probably reprimand her daughter

for talking about her babysitter like that, especially when she was

standing right there, but what Sam had said was also very true.

"Sam, honey, don't be rude, maybe that's what Meredith sees in it. Did

you ever think of that?" Buffy could see that her daughter was about to

argue with her, so she quickly continued, "But we're not going to talk

about that right now. I need you to come do something with me. Okay,

sweetie?"

"Sure mommy, can I bring Katie come with me?" Sam looked up at her

mother with hopeful eyes, wishing that here friend would be able to tag

along.

"Not this time, maybe next time, though. We don't have enough time this

time; we need to leave right now." Buffy said, handing the babysitter a

twenty dollars.

"Mrs. O'Connor, that's too much-"Meredith started to protest.

"Mer, I know I've told you before to call me Buffy, so please try not to

use the "Mrs. O'Connor" stuff anymore. And as for the money, that's what

I'm giving you, this was on really short notice and I'm sort of pushing

you out of the house right now, so just take it, okay?" Despite her

words, Buffy couldn't have sounded any sweeter.

When she saw that the babysitter wasn't going to protest any further she

turned the two girls towards the door, "Come on, time's a wastin'."

Sam and Meredith hurried out the door in front of Buffy, both not

knowing why she was in such a hurry; she usually was the one telling

Angel to calm down, that they had plenty of time. But today she couldn't

get them going fast enough.

Buffy had already gotten Sam buckled in the backseat and was about to

getting in the drivers' door when she thought of something, "Meredith,

you can get home okay, right?"

"Yeah, Mrs. O—Buffy, mom let me borrow her car to come over here so I

can drive myself home." Buffy smiled at the girls slip up and turned in

the direction she was indicating. Buffy saw Meredith's mothers SUV

parked on the opposite side of the circular driveway, the side she

hadn't used. 'So I'm not totally oblivious for not seeing it,' Buffy

thought with a sigh.

"I'm sorry Meredith, I'm kind of distracted today and I gave myself a

nearly impossible time limit for something. And, of course, it's

something really important, so I need to get going if I'm going to make

it on time, I'm sorry about being so spacey." Buffy didn't want their

best and most reliable babysitter to think she was ungrateful or crazy

or anything else not of the positive, and decide to quit babysitting for

them.

"It's alright, just glad I was home today so I could help." Meredith

thought she knew what Buffy was thinking and wanted to make sure the

woman knew there was no way she was giving up this job simply because

her "boss" was acting a little strange. They paid her way too much,

Buffy was too nice, and Sam was too sweet for her to ever quit working

for them. "I hope you make it to wherever you're going and that

everything works out." She went to get into her own car.

"Thanks, Mer," Buffy called out of her car window as she backed down the

driveway and turned onto their narrow road. She i was /i going to make

it there on time.

"What in the world is that girl doing' Giles thought as he looked at the

clock for at least the tenth time in the last, '12 minutes now, she's

got eight minutes left now, what is she doing? Oh, she better get here

in time, William'll leave if she doesn't and while I said I'd do my

best to keep him here, there's now way I'm going to be able to when her

twenty minutes are up.'

'Well, da' doesn't look like you girl's necessarily going to make it,"

William said a few minutes later, "if I have this figured correctly,

which I do, 'Wonder Woman Buffy' only has a little less then three

minutes to get here. " There was no way William was going to admit to

the little part of him that wanted to see what it was she was going to

do, eve if it did take her longer than twenty minutes to do. He'd never

met another woman who'd been so forceful (and yes, he was going to

ignore the imagery that came with that, the fairly NC-17 rated imagery)

with him and he wasn't quite as immune to her pleas as he appeared Still

didn't mean he was going to take I job just so he could make her happy

only to get fired by her arrogant husband. Nope, he wasn't going to

stick around for a second after her twenty minutes were up, no way to

lose his resolve then. He went to his father's office to retrieve his

coat and put it on before continuing what he was saying, "Twenty

minutes. Then I'm leaving, damn her plan because if she's not here on

time…"

TBC..

A/N:Please review. Thanks to Brat, Mari, Caitie, and BuffyandSpikeForever for the reviews--hope you like this chapter, too :) And thanks to everyone who friended me at my LJ (suzee05) I hope you like the chapter as well.

Sorry if this is a bit shorter than normal, but I've been really sick the last week and knew that if I wrote the next bit now, I wouldn't be happy about it. Sorry :( But, I have already started on it--and reviews will make me write faster, really they will. :D

And are people still reading this, I got a lot fewer reviews for this last chapter, so even if you don't like it, let me know why (nicely, please). And yes, I do realize I might regret saying that later.


	4. Chapter 3

b Chapter 3: Will (S)he? /b 

"See you later, Rupes" William said as he turned towards the library door.

"How many times must I tell you not to call me that? I am your father not some..some friend of yours." William couldn't help but laugh at the disdain that his father had put into the word 'friend', "What's the matter Rupes'" William emphasized his name, "don't fancy you and me being mates or friends and here I thought you liked me.?"

"Why must you always do that William, you know that's not what I meant?" Suddenly an idea struck him, "But if you do think that I don't like you maybe we should talk about it for a few minutes, I wouldn't want you thinking-"

Apparently William had thought of the same thing, "Save it da' I'm not letting you trick me into sticking around just so I'll be here when you're precious Buffy shows up. She's already had her twenty minutes so I'm leaving, I'll see you later.

Giles had assumed that the days when he wondered how he and William could possibly be related would have ended with his son's teenage years. Good to know he's been wrong.

He couldn't understand, for the life of him, why Will wouldn't just stick around for a few more minutes, the poor woman was obviously very desperate and was counting on whatever she was doing, working. And his son couldn't even stick around to see what it was? It was rude is what it was.

But it wasn't his decision to make, William was a grown man (whether he acted like it or not) and could make his own decisions.

However horrible they might be.

And he, Giles, was going to be left with the aftermath—dealing with Buffy and dealing with William when he complained in a few weeks because he didn't have a job, yet or the one he did have didn't pay nearly as much as this one.

Being a father was hard work.

(((I)))

William had made it down the hallway and was nearly at the doors that would free him from this situation when his conscience—which he'd managed to push aside the last hour or so—made itself known. And boy, was it not happy with him. 'What are you doing you idiot? A beautiful woman comes in here begging you to spend nearly all day Monday through Friday in her house and you're going to get paid a hell of a lot of money for it, just for teaching one six-year-old.

And what do you do? Do you do the smart, sensible, not completely asinine thing and take the job? Noooo!' how was it possible for a voice inside his head to sound sarcastic when he wasn't feeling remotely amused? 'You come up with a bunch of bull reasons about her husband firing you. And then she seeks you out and begs you to take the job and you still don't take the job. But what's dumbest of all, she's got something that might actually prove to you that it would be a good idea and what do you do? Well, of course, you run away like a little girl. No, not even a little girl would do this. Can't you just give the poor woman the benefit of the doubt and see what it is she wants you to see? Would that be so hard?'

William looked up to the ceiling before muttering aloud, "Yes, it would be so hard." 'Because then I might agree with her, take the job, who knows probably really, really like her and the kid only to get fired by her husband and then I'd never be able to get a job anywhere else. If what I've heard about Mr. Liam O'Connor is right, then he's no 'angel' and I'll be as good as blacklisted if he fires me.'

Before he could let his own 'angel' get the better of him her pushed the door open—and promptly crashed into the little girl that came tumbling through it.

(((I)))

As she sat at yet another red light, Buffy began to nervously tap her fingertips on the steering wheel. Just a few more minutes and she'd be late.

And William would be gone…..and she'd never be able to get him to agree to teaching Sam.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath so her daughter wouldn't hear, "Why do all of these lights have to be red, it's not like there are any cars going the other way, hell I'm practically the only driver out today—which is weird by itself, but also not the point."

If her daughter hadn't been in the car, Buffy probably would have gone through the red light, since there didn't appear to be any cars coming, but she'd never endanger her daughter like that. "So, basically, instead of getting her killed in a car crash, I'm letting her be turned into an O'Connor snob." Buffy said sardonically, "what a choice!"

Just then the light turned green, though and Buffy decided that a little bit of speeding would be okay, all of the cops in town knew her car and knew that she was Angel O'Connor's wife so there was no way she'd get a ticket for a little speeding. Not if the cop wanted to keep his job.

There were sometimes when having a rich and powerful ass of a husband could be a good thing. She'd never taken advantage of his hold on the police department, but if there was ever going to be a time to be a little less than law abiding, it was now, when her daughter's life hung in the balance.

'Way to be dramatic, Buff.' She was almost, almost there, 'But it's true isn't it?'

Deciding that she should probably give Sam a little talk, she caught her daughter's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Sam, sweetie, this is something very important for mommy, so you need to be on your best behavior. Okay?"

Sam looked at her mother curiously, "like when Meredith comes over or for Daddy's friends?"

Now, Buffy really knew that she needed to get William to teach her daughter, "Like when Mer comes over, sweetheart, these are some of mommy's friends and she wants them to see what a good girl you are, but they like little girls so you talk to them too."

"Okay." Buffy knew that finding out you didn't have to act the way around your mother's friends that you did around your father's shouldn't make a six-year-old so happy, but obviously when it came to her daughter, it did.

"Okay, we're here now sweetie, but we have to hurry because one of mommy's friends has to leave soon and we're already late, so how about we race to the front door."

"Yay!" Sam loved it when her mother played with her like this, she didn't really care why, she just thought it was fun. And she wished her dad would do something fun with her sometimes, but he always told her she was getting too old to run around like that and she had to act like a "lady," she didn't know what that was, but it didn't sound like much fun.

Buffy pulled the car into the parking space that was closest to the door, still about 40 feet away, and turned got out of the car, waiting until Sam was out before locking the door. "Okay, see that door," she pointed to the door that was just down the hallway from the library, "That's where we're racing to. Think you can beat me?" Buffy loved to goof around like this with her daughter.

"Of course," Sam smirked.

"Alright, ready? Set. Go!" And they stared to race towards the school, Buffy letting Sam keep just a little bit of a lead on her.

(((I)))

Sam knew she was going to beat her mother! And just as she was about to reach the door, it opened and so she went running through it. And into the person who had opened the door.

(((I)))

"Sam!" Buffy was about to yell when she saw her daughter run through the door, sure there weren't really that many people at the school since school hadn't started yet, but she didn't want anything to happen to her daughter. She started running at full speed to get there and was about to yell her daughter's name when she saw just who it was that had opened the door—and where her daughter was.

"So, you thought you could leave, did you?" Buffy asked William, smiling when he looked up from her daughter to her, in surprise.

"You are late, luv. I gave you twenty minutes and those are gone now, so if you and the Bit'll excuse me, I've got places to be." He was going to leave, really he was.

"But I told Sam that she'd get to meet some of my friends. You wouldn't disappoint a little girl would you?" Buffy didn't know why she was suddenly acting so playful with him, she suspected it had something to do with Sam being there, but she didn't have time to analyze things right now.

He looked down at the grinning little girl, 'Should have known the chit would have an adorable kid, good thing she looks like her and not her father,' before he looked back up to Buffy, "Fine, let's go to the library and talk, it'll give the girl somewhere to sit and all that rot. Not guaranteeing you anything, though."

"Fair enough," Buffy said before telling Sam to come with her and leading them all into the library.

(((I)))

TBC...

Please review :-D


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Art

"Hey da'," William said as he reentered the library, ignoring his father's shocked look at seeing him again so soon as he came out of his office, "You have some markers? Maybe some highlighters or something?" When his father looked even more confused, he pointed to Buffy and her daughter, whom he had failed to notice, who were now sitting at one of the library's tables.

Not wanting to examine why he was being so nice to the little girl, he just continued with his request for is father, "You know, some markers and some papers so she can draw or whatever it is little kids do."

Finally accepting that his son was being nice to Buffy—okay technically her daughter, but she was an extension of Buffy so it counted—Giles walked back into his office mumbling something about possibly having crayons somewhere.

"Buffy, pet, Da's trying to find something for the little bit here to draw with, so she won't be too bored while I convince you I'm _not_ going to take this job."

Buffy smiled at him, "Thanks," before adding, "But you're not going to do the convincing, I am, and you are going to take the job."

They were about to start yet another argument when Giles returned with what looked to be a circa 1960 box of Crayola crayons and several sheets of paper, "I hope this is satisfactory…" he realized then that he wasn't sure of whether he should call the girl by her name or wait for Buffy to introduce them.

"Oh! Sorry. Sam, this is Mr. Giles, he works here and I knew his when I was in high school. Giles this is Sam. And Sam, this," she looked at William, "is William, his son. William, this is my daughter Sam."

Buffy hadn't expected her usually shy daughter to say anything, "But my dad calls me Samantha, he says I should be a lady. I don't know what that means." Sam scrunched up her nose before smiling when William began to laugh.

"Is that so, sweet cake?" William ignored the…embarrassed? look on Buffy's face, "Well, I think you can be a little girl, no need to be a 'lady' just yet, bit. And would you like me to call you Samantha, too?" This girl was just too adorable.

"No, I like Sam, Samantha's too long and only my dad and grandmother and grandfather call me that, I don't like it very much."

"Okay, then Sam," William said, smiling at her. Sam liked this man; he was much nicer than any of her father's friends. But, Sam realized, she didn't know what to call him, she always had to call other adults, Mr. and Mrs. but she didn't know his last name and she didn't think she was supposed to call him Mr. William.

Sam turned to face her mother and whispered in her ear. Buffy smiled before she said, "Why don't you ask him yourself?" Buffy knew that other parents might see it as being mean to her daughter, but Buffy wanted to counteract her husband's influence and teach her daughter that she _could_ talk to adults, as long as she did so politely.

"What's your last name?" Buffy could tell William had no idea where she was going with this.

"Giles."

"Okay, Mr. Giles." Sam seemed to think things over for a minute before she realized something. William could tell because she scrunched up her nose in the same adorable fashion as before.

"That could get kind of confusing, couldn't it?" at the girl's grateful smile, he smiled too and continued, "So, how's about you can call me William, since I get to call you Sam and all and you can call my da' Giles, like your mum does?"

Sam looked at her mother, who nodded, before her face broke into a huge grin and she turned back to face William, "I like that, William."

"Alright, now that the names are all settled, is it alright if your mum and I have a little talk for a minute?" William directed his question at Sam.

"Uh huh. Can I draw you a picture?"

"Sure, I'm sure it will be very pretty."

"We'll just be over there," Buffy assured her daughter, pointing towards the table across the room.

(((I)))

"Alright, so how about you tell me exactly why you think I should take this job?" William knew that she'd have some good reasons and listening to all of them at once would either really _help_ him turn it down or really _hurt_ his chances of doing so.

And her plan of bringing her daughter there to help convince him, was definitely a good one. He was already about 40 percent closer to cracking.

"Okay, my husband's an ass, we can all agree on that, that's my first reason." She knew that he was going to try to tell her that it wasn't a reason, just an unfortunate side note, "And it has everything to do with why. His entire family has gone to boarding schools or hoity toity private schools, sure I knew that when we got married, but I thought since I was studying education and he knew I wanted to teach in a public school, that any kids we had would be free to go to a public school. Apparently not.

"And don't get me wrong, some private schools are just fine and perfectly good people come out of private schools. But not the schools that meet O'Connor family standards. I don't want her to turn out like them and if I lose her to that boarding school where I'll never get to see her and she'll learn about the world from people who see it like Angel and his family do and teach her to be a 'proper young lady' or some tutor who'll do the same thing then that's just what will happen. She won't be anything like me, it'll be like I was never even a part of her life.

"You can think I'm the dumbest woman alive for marrying Angel O'Connor, and I might even agree with you sometimes, but—like I said before that's not the point.

"What is the point, is that, that beautiful little girl over there," she pointed to where Sam was having what appeared to be a very engrossing conversation with Giles, a smiles forming on her face, "She's a wonderful, caring, loving, generous person. She loves her Grandma for being an artist and thinks that painting, or taking pictures, would be the coolest thing in the world to do for a job. She doesn't see the world in terms of how much money can be gained from certain things, or who you need to be friends with to get further ahead.

"She's still a sweet, innocent, little girl who loves her art and watching horse shows on TV and wants a pony, but doesn't really expect one. She still thinks you should be friends with people if they're nice to you, not because you're going to get something from it.

"If you don't agree to be her tutor, either Angel will find one or—more than likely—she'll got to St. Joseph's and spend her life growing up with girls who actually have ponies, even if they're never home to see them. She'll learn to only make relationships that provided the most power and influence for her. She'll give up on art, throwing away her dreams and believe that the only place art has in your life is to impress people who come to your house or so you can brag about your 'collection'.

"If you're anything like your father, which, despite the evidence to the contrary, I think you are, then you'll understand where I'm coming from. At the very least, you have to recognize how much I love my daughter." Buffy had almost succeeded at holding back her tears. Almost.

'Great, you made the girl cry. Wanker!' "Buffy, luv, don't cry. It's not that I doubt your love for your daughter, at all. I can tell how much you love her; you wouldn't be going through all of this if you didn't. It's just," he wasn't sure how he was going to convince her of what he was about to say, he wasn't even sure he really believed it anymore—Buffy Summers-O'Connor was a very convincing woman, "You tell me all of this, all about your husband and his family and it seems, to me at least, that you're underestimating him when you say that he won't really pay attention to how or what I'm teaching his daughter."

"I told you," Buffy was becoming exasperated, "his family's idea family relationships differs **greatly** from that of any rational minded person. To them, a wife is there to make dinner and do the social thing with, somebody to help them keep up appearances. And as for kids, well if they're boy, then hey, heirs; as for girls, well they're supposed to be good young ladies from the time they're born, they never really get to be kids and they're supposed to help their mothers with the appearances part. There's nothing personal about any of it. Trust me."

"I wish I could…"

Buffy was about to respond when she looked over at her daughter and noticed that she was staring at the two of them and seemed to be waiting for the opportunity to do something, "Sam," she called, "Is everything alright?"

"I just wanted to give William his picture so I'd know if he likes it or not." She seemed a little worried that she'd interrupted her mother's conversation, one that didn't seem too happy, "Are you okay, mommy?" It looked like her mom had been crying.

"Yeah, you're mum's fine, why don't you give me that picture now?" When her mother didn't object, Sam came running over to their table and handed William the piece of paper. "Well, isn't this just beautiful. Very pretty colors, nice shapes and everything. I love it." William smiled at the picture the girl had made him, a swirl of colorful lines and shapes.

"See, mommy, he doesn't think it's a house!" Sam was overjoyed that William didn't try to convince her she'd drawn something she hadn't.

William could see that Buffy looked to have come up with a new idea and, since he was pretty sure it involved Sam, he was going to try and delay it. "Of course not, sweetheart, if you'd drawn a house I'd imagine it would look like one." Buffy wasn't sure if she'd ever seen her daughter looked more pleased.

It made her that much more determined that he _was_ going to take the job. "Sam, remember how you wanted Katie to come with us today?"

"Yeah, but you said she couldn't, that there wasn't enough time." Sam replied and William looked decidedly uneasy, he had no idea where she was going with this and when it came to Buffy, that didn't tend to be a good sign for him.

"Have you ever told Dad about Katie?" Buffy asked.

"Uh huh!" the girl said happily, "He said she should come to dinner sometime so he can meet her." William really didn't like this.

"How long have you and Katie been friends?" her mother continued

"Since I was two," Sam said decisively with a quick nod of her head.

"And Dad knows?" Buffy checked with her daughter. 'Really not liking this,' William thought.

"Yep!" she said popping her "p".

"And Katie lives down the street from us," when Sam nodded, Buffy continued, "But does she live in a house?" Sam shook her head no. William reallllly didn't think he liked where this was going.

"Silly," Sam looked at her mother like she'd gone crazy, "You know Katie lives in the zoo. Remember," she began the way only a six-year-old could, "Katie's my imaginary friend so she lives in the imaginary zoo?"

"I know, sweetie, I just wanted William to know." Buffy smiled at her daughter who looked very relieved that her mother hadn't gone crazy.

"So," it was William's turn to ask the girl some questions, "Katie's your imaginary friend," Sam smiled, "who your father doesn't know is imaginary," another nod, "and she lives in a zoo?"

"An imaginary one, of course."

"Of course; I only have one question then: Why does she live in a zoo?"

"Cos she's a giraffe, where else would she live?"

"And your dad doesn't know that either?"

"Nope."

"You're sure?"

"He wouldn't invite a giraffe to dinner, silly!"

'Gotta love little kid logic'William thought.

Buffy looked at her daughter, "Why don't you go draw William another picture?" Sam smiled before running back over to the table and picking up her crayons.

"He really doesn't know?" William asked Buffy thinking—hoping—that the little girl had missed something.

"Nope," Buffy said, sounding remarkably like her daughter, "Angel and I have had several talks as to why he hasn't met Katie yet."

"And you haven't told him she's an imaginary giraffe?"

"Nope," Buffy repeated with a slight laugh, "It's funnier this way."

William laughed a little before he threw in his token protest, "It's just if he fires me…"

"He'll fire you the same day Katie shows up for dinner. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll promise to find out before he actually does, let you know so you can resign, _and_ I'll write you a letter of recommendation."

"Fine."

TBC...


End file.
